Has been involved in volunteer search dog work since 1972 when she attended a seminar given by Bill and Jean Syrotuck. She was a founding member of the American Rescue Dog Association, Northwest Disaster Search Dogs and King County Search Dogs and a past member of Region 10 DMORT task force and past chair of the National Association for Search and Rescue search dog committee.

Marcia’s search dog experience ranges from disaster search (Wichita Falls, TX tornado; KAL Air Crash, Guam; Bremerton Fire, WA; Hurricane Katrina, MS; Oso, WA mudslide) to wilderness, snow, water, and cadaver. She has also trained all her search dogs in trailing. Marcia’s dogs have made finds in trailing, wilderness, water, cadaver and disaster searches. She worked for DMORT at 9-11 Twin Towers (without dog). She has had law enforcement experience as a Mt. Rainier National Park ranger.

As a former high school and adult education instructor, Marcia’s interests are in teaching and writing. She has taken animal behavior (chicken training) classes from Marian and Bob Bailey and incorporates training principles in search dog classes. She has taught at NASAR and numerous training schools, seminars and workshops. She is the author of many articles and has produced a DVD on utilizing dogs for water search.

Currently Marcia is training her dog in trailing with King County Search Dogs.